THIS WEEK: Chef Frank Brigtsen of Brigtsen’s makes Trout Meuniere, a staple in New Orleans’ Creole restaurants. The local version, different from the meuniere of classic of French cuisine, is usually a brown sauce, sometimes using a roux, and often with Worcestershire sauce.

Todays good news involves an article from AZCentral.com, Family creates Bethie Bags for New Orleans kids, which talks about a young lady in Arizona who convinced her family to make a trip and give out her Bethie Bags. Bethie bags are bags of goodies that Bethie makes to hand out to kids in need:

Bethany’s generous nature is already well known throughout the Phoenix area thanks to her “Bethie Bags.” That project involves filling brown bags with snacks and bottled water and distributing them to the homeless.

Best Quote: Also in New Orleans that weekend will be the annual Voodoo Music Festival, with a lineup of performers that includes Rage Against the Machine, The Smashing Pumpkins, Sinead O’Connor, The Black Crowes, Toots and The Maytals, Dr. John, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Coheed and Cambria, and others. Details at http://www.voodoomusicfest.com/2007/index.html.

Jefferson Parish is near and dear to my heart. It’s where I grew up. My mom lost her house in Broussard’s Folly. She was in exile in Slidell until just recently. She moved back to a rental in Metairie this weekend. I have to say that I would consider it good news for Broussard to be put out of a job.

Anyway, this article, Jeff voters may see drama, by the Time-Picayune is very interesting. The Chehardy father/son switcheroo they talk about was before my time. Sounds like good ol’ Louisiana politics to me.

The article says that Phil Capitano may run against Broussard. The only way JP can do worse than Broussard would be to elect Capitano. I used to work for Capitano. Don’t even get me started on that topic.

A sad note in the article is that Sheriff Harry Lee’s cancer is back. That’s a drag and I wish the best for him and his family. Lee has been a controversial sheriff but a good one.

Best Quote: Some wrote off Broussard’s political future in the months after the storm as the public blamed him for allowing their homes to flood from rain that would have been pumped out had the administration not sent drainage workers to Washington Parish. After digging in his heels about his decision to evacuate them, Broussard eventually announced he would never again send the pump operators away, now that the parish has multimillion-dollar safe houses it says are capable of withstanding 250 mph winds.

This is a story of good news about a family who are making it in Chattanooga, TN. They wanted to go back to New Orleans but with things as bad as they were right after Katrina, chose not to. They now have a successful restaurant and a thriving family. They are becoming a part of a new community.

I know how they feel. I left New Orleans before Katrina. Several times actually. I moved away, moved back and then moved away again. I get itchy feet I guess. I always planned to move back. New Orleans was home.

I’d be back now if I was single. But I have a wife, a son and another son on the way. Even if I could get a job that would support my family (doubtful), I couldn’t move back right now because of the crime, the education system and the lack of services (medical mainly).

My wife knows how much I want to move back. We even looked at doing right after Katrina. We couldn’t even find a hotel room. My mom sold her house and we discussed buying it from her but with the state of everything, we didn’t know when we could get it rebuilt or even how much it would cost.

We did go back to visit at Christmas 2005 but even then we had trouble finding a place to stay. We ended up staying with my cousin. We’ve been back a few more times since but it’s always as visitors. We were visiting back in July and never went further west than Slidell. Most of my family has relocated there.

I like hearing about success stories for the people of New Orleans, whether in or out of the city.

Best quote from this TP article:

The couple have plowed a slice of the money they got from the sale of their flooded one-story in eastern New Orleans into the business. They are leasing space in the old red-brick bank building, the upstairs of which, ironically, once served as a Ku Klux Klan meeting place. If things go well, the Adams couple may one day own the building.

Even with the prospect of success and stability, the Adamses still often find it hard to celebrate. They would like to return some day to New Orleans, but don’t know when or how that can happen, especially as they become more rooted and financially invested, day by day, so far away from home.

Does this qualify as good news? I am deciding that it does. Not so much as why he is changing. I figure he’s probably changing because it’s a good bet the state democrats are going to take a beating. And they should.

Your support and friendship are very important to me. I have always tried to tell you where I stand and what I stand for. That’s why I’m writing this letter.

I have decided to join the Republican Party. I wanted you to be among the first to know, and to hear it from me. It has been an honor to serve as your State Treasurer and I will seek my third term this October as a Republican.

He says he is converting due to his beliefs.

I believe in certain fixed, bedrock principles: that government should be responsive and accountable to the taxpayers who pay for it; that economic growth originates in the private sector; that education is the best safeguard of liberty; that ethics in government is critical to people’s faith in democracy; that the values of faith, work, family, personal responsibility and individual liberty are the building blocks of a prosperous society. I have concluded that the Republican Party is the party that best reflects my values today.

I also believe in the power of ideas. Every advancement in art, science, technology, business, cooking and medicine has occurred only after someone challenged the rules and tried another way. My career in public service demonstrates my belief in the power of looking for a better way. For the past several years, it has increasingly been the case that those public servants who have embraced my ideas and my philosophy of trying new approaches are primarily Republicans. I am grateful for their support and their willingness to try something different. I also believe for this reason it is time to join the Republican Party.

That’s fine with me. What struck a chord with me was his comments about what he sees Louisiana as needing and what it needs to become.

Finally, I believe that Louisiana state government needs to change. It has to change. And it must change now. Otherwise, Louisiana will become a place our children visit when they come see us at Christmas, instead of a place they can live, prosper and raise their own families. I feel I can best contribute to that change as a Republican.

I am one of those people who don’t care what political party someone is in. I tend to lean republican but over the last few years, I have become mostly disgusted by all politicians. If switching parties will make Kennedy feel that he can help make Louisiana a place where people can “live, prosper and raise their own families” (which I don’t believe is the case right now), then I am all for it.

Today’s good news is all about the music in New Orleans. There are always two things I think of when I think about New Orleans (besides family and friends) and that’s music and food. Even more than Mardi Gras. From BBC News, In pictures: New Orleans’ brass bands.

This article is all pictures really. Each picture has a short caption but it’s a visual story. Check it out.

Calling this good news is somewhat of a stretch but finding good news on the second anniversary of Katrina is also a stretch. The headline is, “Bush Tells New Orleans: `We Understand’“. It is from Breibart.com on August 29, 2007 at 11:25am by Jennifer Loven.

Bush has visited the region several times in the last couple of years. It hasn’t done anyone any good. Bush is more concerned with blowing up Irag than in rebuilding New Orleans. He is a complete power monger with no real care for the people in the region. He is a politician of the worst sort. And I’m a republican.

But, sticking with good news, I am really trying here, there is a good quote in the article.

In fact, there is some good news here. The city’s population is rebounding, and a few neighborhoods thrive. New Orleans has recovered much of its economic base and sales tax revenues are approaching normal. The French Quarter survived Katrina, and the music and restaurant scenes are recovering.

That’s about all the good news I could dig up today. I hope tomorrow will be better.